Tag Archives: eastridge mall mma gym

Smash Gyms is very proud to announce another awesome addition to our staff. Imanuel “Manny” Rocha is martial artist, athlete and personal trainer. Manny’s passion for fitness and martial arts make him a fun and popular personal trainer and coach. His willingness to help people of all fitness and experience levels have helped him grow a loyal following of students and training partners.

Manny Rocha Won his Boxing debut by KO!

Manny once weighed 289lbs and through martial arts and fitness has discovered a path to reaching his potential. After losing 90lbs he is excited to give back what he has learned along his journey to the members at Smash Gyms.

As a personal trainer Manny's work ethic is contagious!

In his goal to become a well-rounded martial artist Manny has trained and competed in boxing, jiu-jitsu, tae kwon do, kickboxing and kenpo karate. He has trained with World Champion Kickboxer and coach Mike Winkeljohn, trained with world champion boxer Danny Romero, with MMA champions Nick & Nate Diaz, and BJJ Blackbelt Phil Torres. He has sought out the best coaching possible and looks forward to passing on his skills and knowledge to his students.

Manny Rocha with his striking coach Mike Winkeljohn

Manny is teaching beginner friendly classes at Smash San Jose 5 days a week! Boxing at 7:30pm on Monday & Wednesday and 6:30pm on Fridays and Kickboxing on Tuesday & Thursday at 6:30pm. Kids Kickboxing and boxing coming soon. All the classes at Smash focus on providing you with a great workout, learning something and most importantly having FUN!

Manny is now just as sought after for his personal training services at Smash as his striking skills. Manny specializes in helping women and men reach their fitness goals through motivating and affordable personal training sessions. His experience as a Personal Trainer with Golds Gym coupled with his versatile martial arts background makes for unique and fun fitness training sessions. He is a very popular trainer so call soon while he still has openings!

Beginning Monday February 10th 2014 Sam “The Ram” Spengler will begin teaching beginner friendly MMA Fitness & Self-Defense Classes at the new San Jose Smash Gyms. Smash Gym San Jose is located in Evergreen right down the street from Quimby Oak Middle School where Sam has taught for over 12 years.

Sam Spengler - Teacher, Coach, Martial Artist, & MMA Fighter

As a veteran PE teacher, wrestling coach, athlete, and role model Sam Spengler has contributed to the East San Jose and Evergreen community in many ways. As a teacher Sam’s positive attitude is contagious and he is extremely popular with his students and fellow staff. Sam has had huge success as the Quimby Oak Head Wrestling Coach. He has led the Quimby Oak Lobo’s wrestling team to win their league for 12 years in a row. As a coach Sam has helped students fulfill their potential by guiding them in their athletic careers. He has created countless champions. Many of Sam’s students have gone on to receive scholarships, become coaches themselves, and be contributing members of the community.

2013 BJJ US Purple Belt Open Champion Sam Spengler

Sam has been wrestling since he was 5 years old. As a senior in high school he earned a bronze medal in the Montana State Wrestling Championships and also received a scholarship to play college football where he earned a degree in Education. A seasoned martial arts veteran, Sam has been competing in kickboxing and MMA since 2003. He began training kickboxing over 10 years ago at West Valley Community College with Brian Kuhn. Shortly after Brian introduced Sam to Cung Le’s Martial Arts in San Jose where Sam began training MMA. Sam continued his MMA training with Cung Le and supplemented his training by learning BJJ at Smash Gyms. Sam has trained with many world-class competitors and instructors over the last 10 years.

Sam has competed in hundreds of wrestling matches, 22 kickboxing matches, dozens of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournaments and 9 MMA fights. Sam is also the head of his Physical Education Department in San Jose. This competitive experience in kickboxing, wrestling, brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts coupled with his teaching background lends him the unique ability to transfer his knowledge to eager students in a structured and systematic way. Sam’s organized and fun classes will help students of all skill and fitness levels learn technique and improve their fitness level due to a format and curriculum designed to create an optimal learning environment. Sam is happy and excited to pass on his experience and unique skill set to the Evergreen and East San Jose community at Smash Gyms.